Mason Gooding
Mason Gooding is an American actor. The son of actor Cuba Gooding Jr., he has appeared in television series and films. He had a recurring role in the television series Ballers and a starring role in the teen drama series Love, Victor.
He has also appeared in the films Booksmart and Fall, portrayed Chad Meeks-Martin in Scream and Scream VI, and most recently starred in Heart Eyes.
Early life
Gooding was born on November 14, 1996, in Los Angeles, California, to Sara Kapfer and Cuba Gooding Jr. He is the middle of three children. His paternal grandfather was Cuba Gooding Sr., the former lead singer of R&B band, The Main Ingredient, and his uncle is actor Omar Gooding. His paternal great-grandfather immigrated to the United States from Barbados.Gooding attended Windward High School in California, where he played varsity football for four years. He graduated in 2015. During high school, his main interests were football and theater.
He wanted to begin acting after graduation, but decided to attend college after visiting his father on set in New York. He enrolled in New York University Tisch School of the Arts to study dramatic writing and psychology. He dropped out during his junior year in order to pursue acting full time.
Career
In 2017, while still in college, Gooding found a manager and an agent and started booking roles. While still at N.Y.U., he was a P.A. and a featured background player on the web series Spring Street. He booked his first major acting role in the HBO's dramedy Ballers alongside Dwayne Johnson. In 2018, Gooding gained his first major film role in Booksmart, directed by Olivia Wilde in her directorial debut. In 2019, Gooding was cast as Andrew in Love, Victor, the television spinoff of the 2018 film Love, Simon. Originally developed for Disney+, the series premiered on Hulu in 2020. While he had played football in high school, Gooding had to learn how to play basketball for the role. Gooding also appeared in Netflix's Christmas themed romantic comedy Let It Snow later that year.In 2020, he also began appearing in Freeform's sitcom, Everything's Gonna Be Okay. In September 2020, Gooding was cast as Chad Meeks-Martin in the fifth Scream film, which was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released on January 14, 2022.
In late August 2021, Gooding co-starred alongside Kesha and Chloe Bailey in the scripted podcast, Electric Easy, a musical neo-noir science fiction show set in a futuristic Los Angeles. Humans struggle to co-exist with robots, known as “electrics”. The show was created by Vanya Asher; executive producer was Kesha. The podcast premiered on August 30, 2021.
Gooding reprised his role of Chad Meeks-Martin in the film Scream VI, released on March 10, 2023. He is set to reprise the role in Scream 7.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
| 2016 | Godspeed | Johnny | Short film | |
| 2018 | When Don Met Vicky | Don | Short film | |
| 2019 | Booksmart | Nick Howland | ||
| 2019 | Don't Say No | Brandon | Short film | |
| 2019 | Let It Snow | Jeb | ||
| 2020 | Violent Nights | Rick | Short film | |
| 2022 | Scream | Chad Meeks-Martin | ||
| 2022 | I Want You Back | Paul | ||
| 2022 | Moonshot | Calvin Riggs | ||
| 2022 | Alone Together with You | Harry | Short film; also director | |
| 2022 | Fall | Dan Connor | ||
| 2023 | Scream VI | Chad Meeks-Martin | ||
| 2024 | Y2K | Jonas | ||
| 2024 | Adult Best Friends | John | ||
| 2024 | Aftermath | Jimmy "Romeo" Roken | ||
| 2025 | Heart Eyes | Jay Simmonds | ||
| 2025 | Pools | Reed | ||
| 2025 | Under Fire | DEA Agent Abbott | ||
| 2026 | I Want Your Sex | Zap | ||
| 2026 | Chad Meeks-Martin | Post-production | ||
| 2026 | Post-production |